[Pediatric cardiac transplantation. Long-term results and problems]

The aim of this study was to establish an assessment for cardiac transplantation by retrospective analysis of data from two French centres. Screening for acute rejection was ensured by systematic myocardial biopsies for patients aged over 10 years, and by clinical non-invasive follow up, ECG and Doppler echo in the younger ones. Coronaropathy was screened for by coronarography or stress echography. Eighty three cardiac transplantations were performed in 82 patients aged 9.2 +/- 6 years. The follow up was 5.8 +/- 4.8 years. Survival was 86% at 1 month, 76% at 1 year, 73% at 5 years and 60% at 10 years and did not differ for age at transplantation (p = 0.88) or the initial pathology (p = 0.25). Twenty-nine patients died in the period between 3 days to 11 years, of which 13 were during the first month and 9 after one year (of which 4 were acute rejections and 2 coronaropathies). The incidence of acute rejection was 1.8 episodes per patient; 42% were late rejections, through non-compliance for half of them. Systematic biopsy was useful in the first 3 months post transplant. Eight patients (9.6%) presented with coronaropathy of the graft, progressive for 5 of them. Renal function was altered in 12% of cases, especially in the patients transplanted before the age of 2 years. The results of paediatric cardiac transplantation are satisfactory. Acute rejection and therapeutic compliance for adolescents, graft coronaropathy, and renal function of infants remain the principal elements for the long term prognosis.